Barbell Shrugged

In this episode, Dr. Bill Campbell returns to the show to discuss a major pivot in his research from building muscle and optimizing fat loss to understanding menopause and its effects on women's body composition. After watching his wife struggle through a severe perimenopause transition that resisted every traditional fat loss strategy, Campbell uncovered a massive blind spot in the scientific literature: almost no research exists on fit, resistance trained women going through menopause. His public comments sparked hundreds of messages from women describing the same struggles including unexplained weight gain, muscle loss, energy crashes, and sleep disruption highlighting how poorly understood this phase of life truly is. Dr. Campbell breaks down what the best research does show. Menopause accelerates fat gain, shifts fat distribution toward the midsection, and produces measurable declines in muscle and bone mineral density. Many women experience weight loss resistance where standard diet and training approaches no longer produce results. He also digs into the nuance of hormone replacement therapy how progesterone and estrogen can dramatically improve sleep, anxiety, and energy, why estrogen appears anabolic for middle aged women, and why HRT's effect on body fat varies widely. Campbell clarifies the long standing confusion created by the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study, how its flawed interpretation suppressed HRT use for two decades, and why today's evidence supports earlier intervention under an evidence based physician. The conversation closes with clear, practical guidance for women entering perimenopause. Maintain a consistent fitness lifestyle, lift weights to protect muscle and bone, prioritize sleep, get annual bloodwork and DEXA scans, and consider HRT early if medically appropriate. Campbell emphasizes that lifestyle habits do not replace hormone therapy and hormone therapy does not replace lifestyle. Together they help women navigate the most dramatic physiological transition since puberty. Whether you're a coach, practitioner, or someone approaching this stage of life, this episode provides a much needed framework for understanding, preparing for, and managing menopause with strength and agency. Links: Anders Varner on Instagram Doug Larson on Instagram Coach Travis Mash on Instagram

Former Marine and general contractor Andrew Kavanaugh joins the crew to share the origin story of Black Root Recovery, a company he founded after watching too many of his fellow Marines struggle physically, mentally, and emotionally after returning home. What started as a personal quest to rebuild his health led to a 90-pound weight loss, the elimination of sleep apnea and nightmares, and a profound shift in cognitive clarity and emotional resilience. Andrew combined the modalities that changed his own life (grounding, infrared therapy, red-light therapy, and traditional sauna heat) into a single premium, custom-built recovery system designed to reduce inflammation, support brain health, and help veterans and high performers reclaim their capability. Andrew breaks down the science and practical application behind each component of the system, including his patented grounding design that connects the user directly to an eight-foot copper ground rod to immediately reduce blood viscosity and "electrical noise" in the body. Paired with deep-penetrating red light panels, infrared heat, and a high-output traditional sauna, his units create a stacked recovery environment that improves circulation, reduces inflammation, accelerates healing, and enhances cognitive performance. Andrew shares how, after three months of daily use, he saw his social anxiety disappear, his brain function sharpen, and his jiu-jitsu endurance skyrocket. The conversation expands into the broader mission: supporting veterans, giving athletes a competitive performance advantage, and scaling access to recovery tools that have historically been too expensive or too fragmented to deliver real transformation. Andrew discusses future plans to build custom installations for gyms and sports teams, and continue refining the multimodal system. Whether the goal is longevity, recovery, or helping those who have served, this episode reveals why integrated recovery environments may become the next frontier in reducing inflammation, healing trauma, and elevating human potential. Links: Anders Varner on Instagram Doug Larson on Instagram Coach Travis Mash on Instagram  

In this episode, the world's #1 pickleball player, Ben Johns, joins Anders Varner, Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane to unpack what it really takes to stay at the top of one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet. Ben walks through the insane travel schedule, the perpetual in-season demands, and the growing physical toll of a sport played in deep athletic stances, high-velocity lateral movements, and multi-hour tournament days. For the past year, Ben has partnered with RAPID Health Optimization to build a data-driven system around sleep, recovery, hydration, nutrition, and personalized strength and conditioning giving him a competitive edge in a sport where consistency and longevity are becoming just as important as pure skill. The team breaks down how RAPID reverse-engineered the physiology of pickleball by analyzing metabolic demands, movement patterns, travel stress, and tournament structure. Ben shares what has changed the most: HRV-driven sleep routines, hydration and electrolyte protocols, rapid-turnaround nutrition systems during six-day competition blocks, and gym programming that prioritizes leg strength, acceleration, deceleration, rotational power, and the ability to repeatedly produce peak output with minimal fatigue. With only an eight-week "off-season" each year, Ben's entire training plan now revolves around precision dosing of fatigue, auto-regulation, and strategic recovery backed by data from Oura, lab analysis (blood, stool, saliva, urine) and the RAPID coaching team. Finally, the conversation moves into the strategic side of dominance: pattern recognition, the metagame of adjustments, and the ability to keep learning in a young sport where the rules of mastery are still being written. Ben explains how having a full-stack performance team allows him to focus on playing, developing new skills, and outlasting opponents who aren't managing sleep, travel, workload, or recovery with the same level of precision. If you want an inside look at how the best player in the world trains, prepares, and stays healthy and how RAPID Health Optimization builds elite longevity systems for professional athletes this episode is a must-listen. Links: Ben Johns on Instagram Anders Varner on Instagram Doug Larson on Instagram Coach Travis Mash on Instagram

In this episode, the Barbell Shrugged crew explores how next-generation MRI muscle analysis is transforming the way high-performing athletes train, recover, and prevent injury. Dr. Doug Goldstein walks Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash through Doug Larson's full Springbok Analytics scan a 3D "digital twin" of his musculoskeletal system that reveals muscle volume, asymmetries, and tissue quality with a level of precision traditional assessments can't match. The team breaks down how this data gives coaches a clearer understanding of the body's true strengths, weak links, and compensation patterns the foundational context needed to prescribe smarter, more targeted programming. Using Doug's real data as the case study, the group highlights how seemingly isolated issues like a long-healed posterior hip dislocation can create downstream patterns that affect performance years later. The scan reveals major asymmetries in deep hip stabilizers, psoas imbalances, and elevated intramuscular fat in specific muscles, all of which influence how force is produced and absorbed under load. The conversation emphasizes that measuring muscle quality and not just quantity is essential for identifying tissues that underperform despite looking normal from the outside. They also break down the different types of fat Springbok identifies (visceral, subcutaneous, intermuscular, intramuscular) and why certain compartments are more predictive of movement limitations, metabolic dysfunction, or elevated injury risk. The episode closes with a look at how this new level of precision plugs into a fully integrated high-performance system. Through Optima Muscle, athletes combine Springbok MRI data with movement evaluations, strength testing, and force analysis to build individualized protocols that increase strength, improve resilience, and significantly reduce the risk of non-contact injuries. The team explains why pro athletes are beginning to adopt multi-scan protocols across a season, and how this data-driven approach allows coaches to design programming that targets exactly the right tissues, at exactly the right time. For anyone serious about longevity in training, staying explosive, or eliminating preventable injuries, this episode offers a glimpse into the future of performance diagnostics and precision training. Go to OptimaMuscle.com to learn more!  Links: Doug Goldstein on Instagram Anders Varner on Instagram Doug Larson on Instagram Coach Travis Mash on Instagram

In this episode, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Travis Mash sit down with Matt Brown, Director of Business Development at Springbok Analytics, to explore the cutting edge world of MRI based muscle analysis. Matt breaks down the origins of Springbok, how the company grew from a university research lab solving cerebral palsy surgical problems into one of the most advanced muscle segmentation platforms on the planet, and why professional sports teams, medical researchers, and longevity practitioners are all adopting this technology. From 15 minute full body protocols to AI driven segmentation of 144 muscles, Springbok is redefining what is possible in muscle profiling and objective performance measurement. The conversation dives into real world application, how Springbok helps pro athletes understand tissue quality, fat infiltration, tendon health, asymmetries, compensations, and injury risk with unprecedented precision. Matt shares examples across the NBA, NFL, soccer, and clinical research showing how MRI data is being used to shorten rehab timelines, guide targeted strength work, map scar tissue, and track atrophy after major injuries like ACL tears. The group contrasts traditional tools like DEXA with what is now possible using MRI, individualized baselines, normative values by sport and position, and 3D interactive models that reveal exactly where muscle is strong, weak, or compromised. Finally, the team covers the massive opportunity in longevity and consumer health. They discuss how muscle quality predicts aging trajectories, why fat infiltration accelerates decline, and how Springbok's new FDA cleared body composition capabilities unlock deeper insights into visceral fat, liver fat, bone density, and long term risk. Doug outlines how Rapid Health Optimization is partnering with Springbok through Optima Muscle to bring these pro level analytics to everyday people, combining MRI data with elite coaching, physical therapy, and strength programming to create personalized, actionable plans that maximize performance and minimize injury. This episode is a powerful preview of where the future of muscle health, performance diagnostics, and longevity is headed. Learn more at: OptimaMuscle.com Links: Barbell Shrugged on Instagram Springbok Analytics on Instagram Anders Varner on Instagram Doug Larson on Instagram Coach Travis Mash on Instagram